Instant Karma
by PixieInks
Summary: What did Murphy do after Charlotte's suicide? One shot


p class="MsoNormal"He honestly had no idea how long he'd been walking; but it was long enough to make running almost impossible. His legs burned as he scrambled over yet another steep hill, his hands were bleeding from clutching at roots and rocks as he clambered up the incline. The footfalls pounded behind him, they were close. Too close./p  
p class="MsoNormal""This is gonna suck." He thought, before flinging himself over the ledge, he knew climbing down would be quieter and safer but it would take too long. He skidded and rolled over the rough surface, something hard split his skin open above his eye, and he screwed his eyes shut against the flash of blood. All of a sudden he was falling through space, no rough earth, no scraping rocks and branches. In that instant he knew… He was dead. Just like Charlotte./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Instant… Fucking… Karma./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The wet thump came less than a second later and he cried out, with every ounce of strength he had he strangled the sound, and sucked air into his empty lungs. He was lying in a shallow stream, he didn't move. He couldn't move. The footsteps were gone. All he could hear was the trickle of the water, and the chirping insects. He lay there until his lungs stopped burning, then he dragged himself to the bottom of the ridge he'd fallen from. The sun was creeping through the trees now, he found a small outcrop of rock and curled up between it and the ridge wall and let sleep… or unconsciousness take him./p  
p class="MsoNormal"When he woke his stomach was aching; every inch of his body was cut, swollen or cracked. He'd definitely broken a rib or two when he'd fallen. After examining the tree line and what he could see of the banks of the stream for far too long; he waded out ankle deep and stooped into the water to drink, and wash his wounds. His knuckles stung as he rubbed the encrusted blood and dirt from them; revealing the tattered and torn flesh./p  
p class="MsoNormal"He ventured up the other side of the bank searching for food. He scoured the shrubs and trees for berries and nuts, but he couldn't remember anything from Pike's 'Earth Skills' classes. "Pike!" He thought to himself; even the voice in his head was full of venom. "That jackass wouldn't last five minutes down here." He gave up and rolled over the biggest rock he could see, splitting a wound on his hand again. Insects scattered in every direction, he snatched up the fattest worm, wiggling hopelessly on the ground./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Over the lips and passed the gums." A voice in his head sang. He stuffed it into his mouth and bit down, the explosion made him gag but he pressed his lips together and choked it back. He grabbed for more, the ones with legs were worse. They got caught in his throat and coughing up the spindly little shards made it hard to keep everything else down. When he had eaten all he could stand, he lay back against the rock. "Just like chicken." He laughed, humorlessly./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Like you know what chicken tastes like." He mocked himself silently. He was still hungry./p  
p class="MsoNormal"He didn't really keep track of the days he spent at the bottom of the ridge; he thought the grounders wouldn't expect him to stay this close to where he was almost caught, so he stayed. He had easy access to water, shelter from the elements but zero comfort, and he only lit fires when it was too cold not to. And food… well he had that covered too, he'd tested some of the berries he found eating just a few, then a few more and waiting a day to see if there were any side effects, his bug hunting skills were unparalleled./p  
p class="MsoNormal"That was when it happened; he was digging in the dirt and suddenly out of the dead silence came the stomping of several sets of feet. He hardly had time to whirl around and catch a glimpse of his attacker's masks before something hard connected with his jaw, whipping his head to the side. The world went black before his body thumped limply to the ground./p 


End file.
